Abstract: Background: Bowel Transit studies have been a cheap, painless and non-invasive way to quantify bowel transit time, regularly performed since it was developed by St Marks Hospital in 1969. Radiopaque markers of different shapes are ingested by the patent on Day 1, 2 & 3. A full exposure abdominal radiograph on Day 6 is taken to assess for delayed vs normal transit by assessing the number of markers seen at day 6 by a radiologist. The radiographer normally uses low dose fluoroscopy grab before obtaining the full image. An arbitrary number, derived from multiple transit studies, decides if bowel transit is normal or delayed. Method: 30 consecutive transit studies from 2018 assessed. Doses of the full exposure radiograph and the mandatory fluoroscopy grabs recorded on the RIS system. Two Radiologists read all 30 cases and assess the bowel transit on the Fluoroscopy Grabs and the Full Exposure Radiographs. Results: Between Fluoroscopy Grabs and Full Exposure Radiographs there was 100% concurrence in Normal vs Delayed transit, as assessed by both radiologists. Fluoroscopy Grab dose is approximately ¼ of the Full Exposure Abdominal Radiograph dose (statistically significant).Conclusion: Fluoroscopy Grabs reveal the same outcomes as the full exposure radiographs, despite the significantly less dose. Consideration for only using fluoroscopy grabs in regular practice should applied in multiple centres, significantly reducing the dose. Summary: Bowel Transit Study – Do we really need full exposure?Report abuse »